Book Now: Swedish Chefs and a Taste of Norway

By Rina RapuanoOctober 22, 2013By Rina Rapuano | October 22, 2013

There’s no doubt that Scandinavian cooking has burst onto the world stage this year, with northern European chefs gaining international acclaim for their innovation and respect for local food sources. This month, two DC dining rooms celebrate Scandinavia in the form of a Swedish celebrity-chef pop-up and a special Taste of Norway menu.

At The Grill Room this Thursday and Friday, two acclaimed Swedish chefs - Hans Boren of 28+ and Johan Bjorkman of Kock & Vin in Gothenburg - will offer a three-course lunch menu and a six-course dinner menu in collaboration with Grill Room chef Jakob Esko, also from Sweden.

For the lunch, which costs $38 excluding tax and gratuity, options include a crab soup with dill flower, cauliflower and apple and an entree of deer loin with sweet potato and tonka beans. Dinner, which costs $88 per person, is a set tasting menu that includes a Jerusalem artichoke soup with sweetbreads and black truffle as well as cod with carrots and nage (202-617-2424).

At Equinox, chef Todd Gray has committed to sharing the flavors of Norway as a member of the Norwegian Seafood Council’s culinary board. To that end, Gray visited Norway and was inspired to create a $68 Taste of Norway four-course menu ($110 with wine pairings) that will run through the end of the month.

Dishes include a first course of risotto with Norwegian red king crab, artichoke hearts and black trumpet mushrooms and a second course of roasted Norwegian halibut with a confit of sweet peppers, lemon-thyme butter and a focaccia tuille (202-331-8118).